Hello all; My name is Kevin, I am one of the chairs of the IMSA chapter [[IMSA]], but I am also in a unique political situation.
My uncle is jack Franks, the chief co-sponsor of this bill in the Illinois House. I would love to arrange something with him and others to further not only their support of the bill but also of the OLPC project. Let me know what I can do, Kevin On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 5:49 PM, Edward Cherlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I talked with Ryan Croke of Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn's > office today. They are keen on this project, and would like to arrange > for us to assist in getting the program designed for the best possible > outcome. HB5000 is moving rapidly through the House, and will then go > to the Senate, which is likely to turn it over to the Education > Committee for public hearings. We should organize to bring our XOs and > our children to Springfield for the hearings. > > Among the questions: > > Schools will be allowed to choose from among the available laptops. > The program should capture the differences in outcomes between schools > using different hardware and software, using appropriate measures LG > Quinn's office agrees. Nicholas Negroponte is strongly opposed to > "bake-offs", but the world doesn't work the way he wants. > > We need to work with the legislature, the Education authority, and > with schools on appropriate integration of laptops into curricula, and > provide at least draft versions of electronic textbooks on all > requested subjects. Much of what we want to do has yet to be designed. > In fact, the software that we want to build the textbooks on has in > some major cases yet to be designed. How much can we promise for the > start of the next school year in September? That depends very strongly > on who steps up to do it. > > It is very important in pilot projects to do good experimental design > before hand so that the results contain usable information, not merely > data. We need to talk to people who know something about these issues, > who also understand what we are trying to measure. > > What training can be put together for the summer before? We need to > demonstrate the meaning and value of learning by doing through > collaborative discovery, aka Constructionism. Then we need to provide > the toolkit for teachers to apply it, and provide feedback mechanisms > so that their experience and insights steadily improve the process. > > This program requires dedicated resources, and management, on our side > and several others. That means that we need to look for funding. > Anybody know a good grant writer? > > No Child Left Behind creates perverse incentives that can interfere > with the program. Can we get waivers from the Federal Government for > the trials? > > -- > Edward Cherlin > End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business > http://www.EarthTreasury.org/ > "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay > _______________________________________________ > Library mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library > -- --Kevin Crews (815)341-8119 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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